Pop Culture Happy Hour: Buddy Movies And First Impressions

This week, the recent opening of 22 Jump Street — among many others — gets us talking about the buddy film. Not just the buddy-cop movie, but the buddy-frat movie, the depressingly rare female-buddy movie, and whatever else they come up with to create what Glen calls "the background noise of American popular culture." We talk about whether the straight-man/comic dynamic is going away, the long history of buddies, and the "bromance" idea with which not all of us are entirely comfortable.

Then we move on to a second topic about first impressions. First lines, first shots, and the epic sound effect that, to me, kicks off the most marathon-able show on television. Tanya brings a movie, Stephen brings music, and Glen hits us with some first lines from books, as you can imagine. (Believe me, he had more. We're hoping to post a list of what he brought, if there's room on the internet.)

Stephen is happy about a couple of remembrances, including a great piece about Casey Kasem and his own love of Jimmy Scott. Glen is happy about needing to figure two things out: what happened with a tweet he had success with, and also the appeal of Game Of Thrones. Tanya is happy about getting an opportunity to hang out and party with her fellow lovers of the legacy of one of her very favorite artists. And I am happy about one man's Week Of Killing It: here, here and here. (And talking on NPR.)